Don’t be fooled by the ‘economicky’ words: this budget is all politics | Victoria Waldersee

The dominant school of economics has long marketed itself as value-free. But the chancellor should be honest about the ideological nature of his decisions

You'd think that a leading figure giving their most important speech of the year on what exactly they're planning on doing with the nation's money would try to avoid inductive leaps, questionable stats, and a stubborn inability to be open about the fact that their actions are a choice, not a necessity.

But when it's the budget, and your job title is chancellor of the exchequer, it seems like anything goes. It's not Philip Hammond's fault (though given he uses "too many technical words" by his own admission, he's probably not helping); I'm not sure there's ever been a time where the budget felt like an honest, open, high-quality discussion on how our collective tax money is going to be spent. Isn't that a little strange?

The public is tired of being told that there's only one way forward, when it's clear that political choices are being made on our behalf

Related: Hammond's 'make-or-break budget' wasn't bold - just more of the same | Aditya Chakrabortty

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